School shootings have been a recurring problem in American schools for decades. The massacres at Columbine High School in 1999 and Virginia Tech University in 2007 forced the nation's educational institutions to tighten security protocols and train students on lockdown procedures in the event of an attack. Since the horror of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. in December 2012, K-12 schools, and colleges and universities, have spent millions of dollars to install access control systems, strengthen classroom doors, invest in radio communications equipment, and train teachers, administrators and students how to respond in the event of a violent incident. Despite these efforts, there have been 74 violent attacks at schools and colleges in the US with more than 35 killed, and over 100 injured in the 17 months since Sandy Hook.
Law enforcement experts acknowledge that a determined person will find a way past access control systems, and the average 7-14 minutes it takes first responders to reach the scene means it is up to teachers and administrators to save themselves and their students. But current training protocols fall short of providing effective countermeasures to stop a violent attack.
The most popular training protocol adopted by schools following Sandy Hook calls for students and teachers to throw books, pencils and small objects at a shooter who enters the classroom, then physically swarm him to stop an attack. The protocol may be preferable to passive victimhood, but it unnecessarily endangers students and teachers by forcing them to become visual targets as they stand to throw things, and to physically attack an armed assailant. Proximity to an attacker increases the risk of injury and death. Many educators are concerned about the ineffectiveness and danger of the current approach and are searching for a more effective way to counter a violent attack, without having to arm teachers with firearms.